‘Tis the Season
FYI:
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Dec 19, 2020
Week: 51 Day: 354 |
Local: H 39°\ L 15°\Average Sky Cover: 5% |
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Wind: 7mph\Gusts: 13mph |
Nearest lightning: 1332mi.; Active fire: 59mi |
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Low Risk of Fire |
Visibility:
10mi |
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Record: 62°[1958] Record: -14°[1924]
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Nov Averages: 44°/\17° (5 days with moisture) |
Today’s Quote
Do not let what you
cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden
Random
Tidbits
Quark-gluon plasma is what scientists believe
the entire universe was like immediately after the Big Bang. It's made up of
quarks, which are the elementary building blocks of positive charged protons
and neutral neutrons and gluons, particles that glue quarks together using the
strong force. A physicist says that "if you had a cubic centimeter of this
stuff, it would weigh 40 billion tons."
To make that magic
matter, the LHC was used to smash together lead ions at nearly the speed of
light.
A
little humor
Q: How did the barber win
the race? With a short cut..
-Ubiquitous---now there's
a word you see everywhere
True
Things
In
September officers from the Springfield Police Department were called to the
Wells House residence hall on the campus of Missouri State University.
According to a report filed by Campus Safety Officer John Matthews, police,
campus officials and resident assistants met in the lobby before they were
escorted to the fourt- floor crime scene. When officers reached the hallway,
they saw the offense: Someone had drawn a picture of male genitalia on a dry
erase board attached to a student's dorm door along with the words "You're
a dick" next to the drawing. The resident assistant that found the drawing
told police she "did not have any information about who might have made
the drawing or when it was done." But the incident was reported to the
Missouri State Bias Response Team, where students and faculty are encouraged to
report one another for alleged infractions involving "bias." The
report was one of 28 filed with the Missouri State BRT. According to the
report, SPD "took no further action."
Observations
This Week
|
Christmas Bird Count Week Link………………… |
14-1/5 |
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Halcyon Days…………………………………………….. |
14-28 |
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Posadas…………………………………………………….. |
16-24 |
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Saturnalia…Roman Festival for
Saturn………. |
17-23 |
Observations
for Today
Holly Day
National Hard Candy Day
National Oatmeal Muffin Day
My
Rambling Thoughts
Another cold night and chilly day.
Ready as can be for Christmas.
I updated the Focus site with some housekeeping…looking for roommates
for the Egypt cruise.
Got a call from my former school counselor, who retired a few years
back. Turns out he and his longtime
partner tested positive. She recovered quickly, but he spent 10 days in the
Flagstaff hospital. He is doing fine right now. He is from Mexico (Nogales) at
the border. He wanted to be sure I was careful while with my brother. He thinks
he caught if from our mutual friend and former Facility Manager at Tuba, Pete,
who didn’t make it.
For all my time on the Rez a human landmark on the way to Page was the
Navajo Generating Station ‘Three sisters’, the tall towers where the dirty air
was sent to the world. This morning at 8am, the ‘Three sisters’ were demolished.
The plant had closed about 2 years ago. Lots of video on Facebook about the
falling of the towers.
The Havasupai tribe has closed its reservation at the bottom of the
Grand Canyon to all tourists in hope of stopping Covid. The only way in and out
has been by mule, by walking up the canyon, or helicopter. Now those are
closed. It is fine for now, but soon they will need groceries.
The Russians have been in many government sites…Treasury, Homeland,
Commerce, and Energy for over 8 months. There is also evidence the hackers have
been in large corporations including a majority of US Fortune 500. The problem
now is first to stop the stealing, then figure out how they got in, then how to
keep them out in the future. These hackers have had plenty of time to get
information, create back doors for later intrusions, and to create traps for
the IT professionals who are trying to figure this all out. Since the current administration
leader believed the Putin’s denial of hacking in 2016, there were few precautions
to prevent this. Sad.
Today’s
Puzzle
Answer at the bottom of the page
Take off my skin. I won’t
cry, but you will! What am I?
Historical
Events
1606 – Three ships, Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery left
England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the
thirteen colonies that became the United States.
1732 – Benjamin Franklin published the first edition of Poor Richard’s
Almanack, in Philadelphia.
1871 – Samuel Clemens received a patent (# 121,992) for “An
Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Garment Straps”, a type of
cumberbund/belt.
1903 – The Williamsburg Bridge, was opened in New York City.
1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, the first ‘Best Car in the
World’, was sold in London, England.
1932 – BBC World Service began broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.
1950 – Rose Marie Reid of Los Angeles, California, received a patent
(#2,535,018) for a one-piece bathing suit “embodying a novel construction for
causing it to snugly fit the body of a wearer in a flattering manner,” using
elastic fabric.
1998 – President Bill Clinton was charged with lying under oath to a
federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in
American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term. His lie was about
an affair with 21-year-old intern, Monica Lewinsky.
2014 The Guardian newspaper calls 2014 'The year the people stood up'
2016 US electoral college votes 304 to 227 to nominate Donald Trump
for President over the objections of seven faithless electors
2018 Drones flying over Gatwick airport, England, causes delays and
cancellations for 800 flights and 110,000 people
2019 Earliest fossilized trees, 386 million years old, found at a
quarry in Cairo, New York, study published in "Current Biology"
Birthdays
Today
96 – Cicely Tyson,
American actress
76 – Tim Reid, American
actor
76 – Richard Leakey,
Kenyan Anthropologist
@75 – Leonid Brezhnev,
Ukrainian-Russian marshal, 4th Head of State of the Soviet Union (d. 1982;
heart attack)
57 – Jennifer Beals,
American actress
@55 – Robert Urich,
American actor (d. 2002; skin cancer)
53 – Criss Angel [Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos], American magician
48 – Alyssa Milano,
American actress
@47 – Édith Piaf [Édith Giovanna Gassion], French
singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1963; liver failure)
40 – Jake Gyllenhaal,
American actor
32 – Ronan Farrow [Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow], American journalist
Puzzle
Answer
An onion.
Enjoy the Holiday
